Somewhat dazed by the experience Lurel stumbles along behind Ford.

"We must," he pants, "get to Anima!"

He cranes his neck to make sure Midge and the others are still following.

You run past the passage off to your left hearing more grinding noises. Ahead you see the attacker who fled. Thinking you are chasing him he ducks into the passage on the right. There is a scream. As you run by, his corpse looks like a pincushion filled with arrows.

You run on across a passage and turn left and right and left again to arrive outside Anima's house. It is unchanged but when you enter she is not there. Instead there is an envelope addressed to the questers.

Inside it gives three numbers 3 - 7 - 11.

The moment you take it the house begins to close in on itself as the throne room had done.

"Oh not again!"

Ford quickly runs with the other's out of Anima's house, being sure to snatch up the letter as he goes.

"At least we know where the corridor with the arrows is now..."

He looks around.

"I think we should head to the control room ASAP..."

"The switches!" Lurel cries out to the others. "We must get to the panel and open up the blocked passage!"

He casts a glance over his shoulder to make sure Midge, Lisette and Siffli are still following them, and runs towards the passage with the switch panel.

The room of switches is close. Turning left out of the passage with Anima's house you cross a passage. The grinding of stone on stone can be heard coming from your left but to the right, the exit from the maze, it is quiet.

You find the line of eight switches. Each has the three settings. Left, centre, right. All are currently set to centre. As you stare at them you notice that there is a tiny arrow in the ceiling pointing to the switch furthest from the entrance.

Lurel pauses for breath.

"Right," he gasps. "I think.... the switches... correspond to the heads." After another deep breath he is able to speak again.

"This arrow, I think, must be the starting point - so we need to move that switch to align it with the position of the first head. That was on the wall in the mad wizard's house, right?"

He looks on the control panel again. "The only thing I'm not sure about is from what perspective we're seeing those switches...."

He shrugs. "We can only try. I'll start with the arrangement of heads - as far as I can remember it - from the perspective of someone looking back into the maze from the exit. If that doesn't work, we rotate our point of view... does that sound reasonable?"

However, he cannot shake off a feeling of unease. 'What if we only have the one go, and if I get it wrong this room will close in on us?'

Remembering that the skeleton mentioned having tried many different combinations, Lurel starts moving the switches.

Lurel moves the switches as follows:

1st: leave upright
2nd: move to the left
3rd: move to the right
4th: move to the right
5th: leave upright
6th: move to the right
7th: move to the left


He hesitates as he gets to the last switch.

You hear Anima's voice. The starting point is right but you have not taken note of the clue to the switches. Quick march. That is all you need to know here. By chance three of the switches between 4 and 7 are correctly aligned.

Lurel blinks at the voice.

"Quick march?" he asks, puzzled. "As in 'marching', perhaps - like left - right- left - right? Well, worth a try I suppose." He grins. "At least I was right about the arrow pointing to the start."

He changes some of the switch positions so the pattern now is:

1 - left
2 - right
3 - left
4 - right
5 - left
6 - right
7 - left
8 - right

"Wait... didn't she say 5 6 and 7 were properly aligned? And the first one too. So I don't think that's what she meant..."

Ford pulls out the note he swiped from Anima's house.

"3, 7, 11... maybe it has something to do with this note?"

Before Ford can alter the switches you hear a grinding noise in the distance. As you walk back towards Anima's house passages are blocked so that you can only turn south. The stones that blocked the end of this passage have moved. At the crossroads you may turn right or left. Your map of this area is already annotated. Left takes you to a teleportation point back to the start of the maze. Right takes you to the control panel. Reaching the control room you find that one wall contains an octagonal design surrounded by eight further octagonal hollows numbered 1 - 8.

A large chest in the centre contains a great number of coloured octagons. The 16 colours available are:-

Aquamarine
Black
Blue
Brown
Gold
Green
Grey
Magenta
Orange
Pink
Purple
Red
Silver
Vermilion
White
Yellow.

"Oh... heh. Looks like it did work."

Ford follows the others to the control room.

"And now things get even more complicated..."

He looks down at the note again.

"3, 7, 11... any ideas?"

"One puzzle down, one to go," Lurel grins, more confident now that the end of the maze is in sight. He looks at the stones, picks one of them up.

"I still think those heads have something to do with the puzzle... and I can't work out how 3 - 7 - 11 relates to this. Sooo... do we match the colour stone to the colour of the head?"


He looks at the stones, and frowns. "Would you say that head in the mad wizard's house was white or grey?"

He picks up the white stone, and fits it into the hollow labelled '1'.

The device moves so the number 2 is at the top.

"Hmm.... so maybe that was the right colour?" Lurel speculates. "I wonder... maybe I should have put the stone corresponding to the 3 heads in first... then the seven... but what about eleven? There aren't eleven hollows!"

He picks up aquamarine and puts it into the hollow labelled 2.

"We might as well try putting all the colours matching the heads in, now that I've started.... or ?"

"May as well try, I suppose... I'm sure Anima would have warned us if doing this wrong would get us killed. Well, I hope so anyway."

Ford gulps.

The device moves around so that the number three is at the top.

Lurel places a brown stone in the hollow now at the top.

OOC> Sorry about my disappearance once again... but I have the forums bookmarked under the old name, and it wouldn't load up. I assumed it was the forums... only to realise today that that was not so.

IC> In anticipation of the next hollow, Midge picks up both the red and the vermilion stone and ponders.

"Which looks more like the four heads?"

The device moves so that the number four is at the top.

"I'm not sure," Lurel muses. "When we went to talk to the mad wizard, 4 corresponded to pink.. so that's another possibility. Why don't you try them all and see what happens?"

Lurel can't help wondering about '3 - 7 - 11' though... the octagon has moved three times so far.... should something have happened? What, though, in an octagon with 8 hollows to receive stones, is the significance of the number 11?

Ford heads towards the entrance of the control room, keeping his sword drawn.

"I'll go keep a look-out for any enemies while you figure the puzzle out."

Ford is somewhat surprised to discover that he can no longer turn north. He finds the teleporter to the start by walking straight ahead. When he takes the southward fork, followed by it's sharp right turn, he arrives at a strange device. It is covered by a grille that wil' not budge. Inside are three slots. At present it is not clear what is to be put into the slots. That will require the removal of the grille. At the end of the passage there is now only a left turn leading to a very heavy and firmly locked door.

"That's strange... best not touch anything for now."

Ford turns around and heads back to the control room.

"Hey, Lurel, the layout of the maze has changed again. There's some sort of strange device with a grill on top and three slots for something, as well as a large locked door... you can't turn north anymore."

"Three," Lurel mutters. "Well, at least that's a number that has a meaning... though I'm not quite sure what yet. Ford, can you see what happens when the next stone is put in? Let me know if the maze changes again."

He puts the pink stone he is holding into the hollow at the top, and says to Midge: "If this one doesn't do anything, you try the ones you picked, all right?"

"Ok then..."

Ford heads over to the exit of the control room, looking out and listening for any obvious changes/grinding noises.

The device clicks round so the number five is at the top. Ford hears a small click coming from the whatever is behind the grille.

"Hmm?"

Ford heads over to the grille and examines it.

Ford sees that there is a button with 'number generator' written on it. There is some writing below but currently not readable. It seems that the grille is moving slowly down each time the correct coloured octagon is added by Lurel.

While Lurel waits for Ford to report back, he tries to work out what colour the remaining stones should be.

"Let's see," he mumbles... "The 8 heads I remember, they were the first ones we saw, on that crossroads near the first box. They were sort of brownish.... 6 and 7 I can recall as well.. sort of. One was bluish, the other a shade of green. But the 5 - I know they were in a passage opposite the one which as blocked, with that monster behind it. But what colour... grey or silver?"

Lurel looks at the stones remaining.

"Hmm... we've already used brown, so that can't be the colour of the 8 heads."

He picks out red and purple instead, and lays them aside. Next to them he places a blue and a green stone. Last of all he picks up a grey stone with his right hand, and a silver one with his left, and waits.

"Did anything happen, Ford?"

Ford heads back into the control room.

"Yes... every time you enter a correct stone the grille seems to move down into the floor a notch. Also, a button has appeared on it labeled 'number generator'. That could easily have something to do with the sequence of numbers we were given by Anima."

"Yes," Lurel agrees. "The numbers we have been given must be significant in one way or another. Well, let's see what happens next."

He places a grey stone into the hollow now at the top.

'I hope we're on the right track. I hope this is it. We've been in this maze for so long, I've almost lost track of our task. Levdia seems years ago.... yet we cannot have been in this maze for more than a few hours... a day at most. And then... who knows what awaits us on the other side? And what are the intentions of those Avelyssians? This silent princess hasn't told us much...'

The device clicks over so that the sixth button is at the top. The grille clicks down a notch and Ford can read the top part of the message.

"If you have reached this point you should be able to open the final door. Insert the relevant numbers in the three slots left to right. When you push the number generator..."

The continuation is blocked by the grille.

Ford takes a look at the grille then heads back into the control room again.

"You entered another correct stone... the grille's gone down another notch and I can read the beginning of a message... something about opening the final door if you've reached this stage and to insert the relevant numbers in three slots... it then says something about the number generator but the rest of the message is blocked by the grille."

Lurel nods, and places a green stone into the next hollow.

The device clicks again so that the number seven is at the top. The grille drops another notch. More of the message is legible.

"six numbers will appear. Three of these are invalid. Only after three numbers are entered will you know if you have it right. If you make an error...

Lurel slots a blue stone into the hollow at the top, and looks critically at the purple and red ones he has already picked out for number 8.

"What would you say the colour of the eight heads was?" he asks. "I'm really not sure what to call it."

The device clicks to have the number eight at the top.

The next part of the message reads:

You must replace the three unused numbers and generate six more. You may have three attempts.

Just below the end of the message is a tray in which, it may be assumed, the generated numbers appear.

"Hm." Lurel looks at the purple and red stones, then lets his gaze drift to the box. "Maybe magenta. Hmm.... Well, there's nothing for it but to try.... 7 out of 8 is not bad so far, is it?"

He places the red stone into the eighth hollow.

The device and the grille vanish. You now have full access to the number generator.

"Phew." Lurel lets out a sigh of relief. "Now let's have a look at that number generator you found, Ford."

He gives the others a quick glance.

"Let's stick close together, in case the maze decides to rebuild itself again."

He heads towards the number generator.

There is no threat or problem in reaching the number generator.

"Oh well, here goes," Lurel mutters and presses the button labelled 'number generator'.

Six thin stone rectangles emerge one after another. They are of a size to fit into the available slots on the machine.

The numbers appear in this order

46656
285311670611
1
10000000000
823543
27

Anima's voice echoes in your ears saying 'you must consider the whole number not just a part of it'.

Ford looks down at the numbers and blinks.

"This looks... uh... confusing."

He looks at it some more, but clearly isn't getting anywhere fast...

Lurel stares at the numbers in complete confusion.

"What's that got to do with 3,7 and 11?" he asks helplessly. For a moment he despairs, unable to make sense of those numbers.

'Just when I thought we were about to leave this horrid place. We're so close.... but what are we meant to do with those numbers?'

He looks at the number generator dejectedly, half tempted to push the button again and hope for set of numbers containing the ones in the clue.

'That clue we got.. '3 - 7 - 11' - there has to be a connection. There just has to be... we only need to find it. We're so close... it can't be that hard. Just look at the numbers again. Think. Think. 3.... 7.. 11.... the first one related to 3 somehow.... '

The number 27 catches his eye.

"3 times 3 times 3," he mumbles. "27."

'Perhaps that's it. Perhaps it's as simple as that.'

He clears his throat. "Anyone know what 7 to the power of 7 and 11 to the power of 11 are?"

He drops the '27' into the first slot, and sits down to do some multiplication.

"Hmm."

He places '823543' into the middle slot, and shrugs as he reaches for '285311670611'.

"If I'm on the right track, that's the only number it can be. Here goes."

He drops the number into the third slot.

You hear a door click open. Light increases where the end of the tunnel is shown on the map. Fresh clean air blows in. Suddenly you realise that you are all very dirty and very sweaty.

"We did it!" Lurel whispers. "We did it! Let's get out of here, and get some fresh air!"

He grabs his pack, and heads towards the exit, looking over his shoulder to make sure the others are following.

At the door, Lurel blinks in the brighter light, and takes a deep breath
"Thank you, Anima," he says softly before he steps out into the light.

"Ah, that feels good! Though - " he wrinkles his nose - "I could use a bath... ideally one which doesn't entail being lowered into a well."

He looks around to see where the maze has brought them.

"Woohoo! Way to go Lurel! Oh, and Anima, of course."

Ford grins and grabs his things. He runs out of the tunnel into the fresh air.

"Ugh... you're not the only one."

He stands stretched out into the air trying to dry some of the sweat off... and maybe air out some of the stink.

The area immediately beyond the maze door is a rather dull rocky valley. In the bottom a bubbling hot spring fills a small pool. A check of the water indicates it is safe to bathe in (and drink). A clearly marked and easy path leads out of the valley over a short rise. Knowing that danger could be present you (of course) check what is beyond the rise first. The path leads to a large flat plain where there a many hundreds of small buildings, presumably tombs. There is nothing moving among them.

"Heheh... great. I say we all take turns bathing... we may as well use this chance while we have it. The rest of us can keep watch for enemies... in the opposite direction from the pool, of course..."

Ford grins and looks to Lurel for approval.